and Big White Mountain Resort, owned by Schumann Resorts, plan to expand to several times their present size, deleting yet more land from Silver Star Provincial Park and virtually eliminating the Big White Mountain Ecological Reserve.At Big White, plans are to double or triple the size of the resort, building multiple villages, with chairlifts and ski runs planned inside the Big White Mountain Ecological Reserve. For an animated view, click here.
At Silver Star, almost all the lands deleted from Silver Star Provincial Park for the 1991 World Cup Cross Country Ski Races are slated for development into vaca
tion properties. It is now quite obvious what the motivation for hosting the 1991 World Cup was. No mention was made at the time that these lands would be developed for fee-simple property sales.
tion properties. It is now quite obvious what the motivation for hosting the 1991 World Cup was. No mention was made at the time that these lands would be developed for fee-simple property sales.Surprisingly, no upgrades to the dismally inadequate sewage treatment system are planned, except to log more fairways of the golf course for effluent disposal. The current system is heavily contaminating the Coldstream Community Aquifer 12 kilometers away in Lavington.
Massive subdivisions are also planned for the golf course lands, with plans to pave over several subalpine wetlands and to log almost the entire area.
There appears to be a massive disconnect between what the ski resort says they will do, and what they actually do. Will there ever be a golf course at Silver Star? Unlikely. For a quick tour of the golf course, which was supposed to open 9 years ago, check out the Golf Course Video. Notice on the map shown above that the current plan for the golf course area is to simply use it as a disposal area for sewage effluent. I suspect that this is all it will ever be, and that its only purpose will be to serve as a convenient, low-cost alternative to properly treating the sewage.
If this were truly a world-class ski resort, they would firstly put in the proper wastewater t
reatment infrastructure (i.e. membrane bioreactor) to ensure protection of the community watersheds. Instead, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Environment have endorsed a bizarre plan to simply dispose of the effluent on the clearcut golf course fairways. The Ministry of Environment has failed to enforce the Municipal Sewage Regulation, turning a blind eye to obvious infractions (unfenced lagoons, cattle grazing under active effluent sprinklers, contaminated groundwater around lagoons, highly contaminated streams around the lagoons, excavating the exfiltration lagoon down to bedrock, pooling effluent and saturated soils due to excessive effluent irrigation in the Phase 1 and 2 areas, etc.).
reatment infrastructure (i.e. membrane bioreactor) to ensure protection of the community watersheds. Instead, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Environment have endorsed a bizarre plan to simply dispose of the effluent on the clearcut golf course fairways. The Ministry of Environment has failed to enforce the Municipal Sewage Regulation, turning a blind eye to obvious infractions (unfenced lagoons, cattle grazing under active effluent sprinklers, contaminated groundwater around lagoons, highly contaminated streams around the lagoons, excavating the exfiltration lagoon down to bedrock, pooling effluent and saturated soils due to excessive effluent irrigation in the Phase 1 and 2 areas, etc.).The various government bodies that have the responsibility of protecting the public interest seem to forget that the current owners of the ski resort are free to sell the resort at any time. They seem to naively believe that everything will work out fine over time. Instead of insisting that everything adhere to the highest environmental standards at each stage of development, they instead turn 
a blind eye to all the obvious irregularities, not realizing that the privately owned resort may only be interested in short-term profits and may leave a big mess to clean up at taxpayers' expense.
Silver Star Resort is asking for more land to be deleted from Silver Star Provincial Park, as well as adding land outside the park to its Controlled Recreation Area. B.C. Parks and Land and Water B.C. tried to delete these lands in 1991, and again in 2001, but instead deleted just the golf course lands in April 2001, knowing that by splitting the park into 2 pieces, it would be easy to delete more of the inaccessible East site in the future.
It is truly incredible how the Ministry of Tourism, B.C. Parks, the Ministry of Environment, the Regional District of North Okanagan, Greater Vernon Water, the Ministry of Health, and even the B.C. Ombudsman have turned a blind eye to the obvious irregularities that should be addressed to protect the public interest. Red flags are going up everywhere and no one is prepared to do anything about it, as it appears that the provincial government wants to fast-track ski resort expansion at all costs. Even our MLA does not respond to emails on the subject.
a blind eye to all the obvious irregularities, not realizing that the privately owned resort may only be interested in short-term profits and may leave a big mess to clean up at taxpayers' expense.Silver Star Resort is asking for more land to be deleted from Silver Star Provincial Park, as well as adding land outside the park to its Controlled Recreation Area. B.C. Parks and Land and Water B.C. tried to delete these lands in 1991, and again in 2001, but instead deleted just the golf course lands in April 2001, knowing that by splitting the park into 2 pieces, it would be easy to delete more of the inaccessible East site in the future.
It is truly incredible how the Ministry of Tourism, B.C. Parks, the Ministry of Environment, the Regional District of North Okanagan, Greater Vernon Water, the Ministry of Health, and even the B.C. Ombudsman have turned a blind eye to the obvious irregularities that should be addressed to protect the public interest. Red flags are going up everywhere and no one is prepared to do anything about it, as it appears that the provincial government wants to fast-track ski resort expansion at all costs. Even our MLA does not respond to emails on the subject.
The Resort Development branch of the Ministry of Tourism appears to operate in an ethical vacuum, which does not bode well for the various communities that are faced with ski resort developments in their jurisdictions (i.e. Jumbo Glacier, Garibaldi at Squamish, Juliette Creek, Mount Baldy, Crystal Mountain Resort, Revelstoke Mountain Resort, Hudson Bay Mountain, Cayoosh Creek, etc.).
I do hope that eventually the Wilderness Committee will insist on a public inquiry into the Silver Star fiasco, as that quite likely will be the only way to unravel the tangled web of deceit that B.C. Parks, Land and Water B.C., Ministry of Environment, and Ministry of Tourism have spun in order to hand over Silver Star Provincial Park to private interests.
Kindest Regards,
Randy Schellenberg, Spokesperson
Citizens' Coalition to Save Silver Star Provincial Park
www.savesilverstarpark.org
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